Will There Even Be a 2025 Desktop Release?

August 1, 2024

12:00 AM

I am beginning to doubt that any 2025 QuickBooks Desktop version(s) will even be released. Today is August 1, and Beta-test members would typically be testing RC1 (Release Candidate 1) in preparation for a September release date, but not this year.

Intuit first announced that it would no longer sell new subscriptions to QuickBooks Pro-plus and Premier-plus after July 1, 2024. Then, it announced that the date would be delayed to September 30, 2024.

That was back in February of this year, about the same time when 'Alpha testing' of desktop products normally transitioned to 'Beta testing.' The problem is there was never any 'Alpha' or 'Beta' desktop testing this year. I kept thinking things were moving slower than usual, but nothing ever appeared.

In June, a few mid-year feature enhancements were announced for QuickBooks Enterprise, but the testing website did not offer 'Beta' testing for Desktop.

As part of its announcement, Intuit indicated that 'new customers would be able to purchase QuickBooks Enterprise after September 30, 2024, and that "QuickBooks Enterprise will be (Intuit's) Desktop accounting solution" after that date.

So, despite Intuit also announcing in the "QuickBooks Desktop to stop selling to new U.S. subscribers" blog that existing subscribers who had purchased QuickBooks Desktop Plus products or Enhanced Payroll before September 30, 2024, will be able to continue to renew after September 30, 2024^*, it is looking like any such renewals will be for the pre-September 30, 2024 product.

Of course, we also have that infamous * (asterisk) representing Intuit's Disclaimer: "Availability, terms, conditions, pricing, special features, and service and support options subject to change without notice."

It isn't easy to release significant product enhancements without adequate testing by a broad range of testers representing different test groups (accountants, manufacturing users, retail users, wholesale users, etc.). One example of this can be found in a reader's comment to the article I wrote about the mid-year enhancement, "Enterprise Prepayment feature Expanded." Without adequate 'Beta testing,' it appears the feature may have had a flaw at release¹.

Last September, I wrote an article titled "Why You Should Be a Beta Tester." Now I'm wondering if Intuit abolished their Desktop Beta Testing 'simply to spite me.'

Post Script: 1 — Subsequent to this article's publication, Intuit's Desktop Development team confirmed that the Prepayment feature was working exactly as designed and that Journal Entries created are for the 'date on which the prepayment is moved to the Invoice,' not the Invoice date. Further, the related Journal Entries are intentionally disabled from editing to prevent unintentional modification that could potentially change the accounting.

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From Tools to Tyrants

For a decade we have seen Intuit move from partner-focus and customer-focus ethics to purely $$$$-driven behaviors. Their employees and elite partners are obligated to spout the twisted corporate lies that so many of us in this community left YEARS ago to start our own businesses. We offer direct-to-customer services and pay attention to what our customers need and want.
My first awakening to the low value that ProAdvisors are to Intuit was the removal of the Enterprise specialty certification within a year of my studying and testing to earn it. It was like taking a pie in the face. Weren't we fools! And is Enterprise still in need of trained specialists in our community? Enterprise support is friendly but lackluster now.
The erosion of trust continues as Intuit has forced many loyal customers off its platforms, including us, who were the ones to help make it possible for Intuit to be successful and for QBO to be successful as well, given the POS (sorry... of course I mean Premium Optimum Solution) it was for a decade.
SaaS was the revolution of the mid 1990s. It became Cloud Computing. Next thing is AI. It's just another tool. We used to have a broad range of good tools to do our job and to satisfy our customer's needs. Now we are down to the Playskool kit. Customers who want to enter detail in their transactions have been wasting time and money waiting for screens to repaint.
No amount of relationship management on the part of Intuit will heal or salve this breach. Only a clear and trustworthy return of partner support will make a difference. I recently received a call from my whatever-they-are-called contact at Intuit to set an appointment to, presumably discuss my customers' needs. I'm reminded of the phone call I received from the US Post Office. A truly sincere woman, given the title of small business relations representative, asked me what my local Post Office could do to improve service. After I got over the initial shock of the call, I shared my concerns. And... I never heard from her again.
There is still demand for secure, distributed, reliable on-machine accounting products. Many people don't want their heads in a cloud. Support it at a fair price, or spin it off to someone who can and will support it. No? Then that is self-absorbed greed.
Intuit is no longer a set of tools offered with great support. It's ambition is to be the director of how we are to do business, unless we have the courage to move ourselves and our customers to providers who value us. Finally, is Intuit an AI company as they have touted? Ask me after I have repaired all the bank feed transactions that have ignored my rules.

Mark Madeley 114 days ago